Game Party Champions Review

Of all the minigame collection franchises that came out for the Wii, Game Party was one of the most popular. Since I tried to avoid minigame collections like the plague on the Wii, I’ve never played a Game Party title before, meaning that this Wii U version is my first foray into the party. Marking the third launch minigame collection I’ve played (expect a Nintendo Land review very soon), is Game Party Champions remotely worth it?

What I Liked

Water Gun

Just so this section wouldn’t go completely empty, I picked the one I hated the least. Water Gun has you using the GamePad’s gyroscope to aim at the TV and you have to shoot some bad guys, while avoiding the innocent women. It at least does what it says and I couldn’t find anything wrong with the controls, but the graphics are horribly muddy and it is very boring.

What I Didn’t Like

Story Mode

Your very talkative brother wakes you (a young boy who never speaks) up from your summer of sleeping and decides to take you to the arcade to play some games. After randomly telling you about your father who left you and teaching you how to play air hockey, both of you arrive at the arcade and can play through some of the games.

Normally, I would have just written the story mode off completely because it is so thin and infuriating because you have to play each game multiple times. Unfortunately, you HAVE to play through it to unlock all of the variations for the different games in Free Play. No thanks.

Air Hockey and Ping Pong

Air Hockey was my first introduction to Game Party Champions and I thought it was a good idea. You use the GamePad as your side of the table, swiping on the touch screen to act as your paddle. What ruins this is the fact that it is quite difficult to gauge where your paddle is in relation to the puck because of the fact that the GamePad offers a small view of side, with the TV showing the full table. I honestly can’t tell you how many times I hit the puck into my own side because of the jarring view point.

I lumped Ping Pong into the same point because it uses the GamePad in the exact same way and is equally boring. One thing also shared between the two is that the GamePad rarely registers how much force you put behind a shot, meaning that you’ll hit the net as many times as you don’t.

Basketball, Football, Skill Ball

Once again, I lumped together three games because they are all pretty much the same. In these, you hold the Wii U GamePad vertically, use the gyroscope to aim, and flick the screen to shoot the ball. When using the touch screen actually worked properly, you were tasked with throwing a ball at a stationary and/or moving hole, trying to get the highest score.

On paper, they may not sound mind-numbingly boring, but when the music is almost non-existent, the touch screen doesn’t register your power, and you do the exact same thing 100 times, you’ll begin to hate this game as much as I did.

Miniature Golf

Just like the above games, you hold the GamePad vertically, use the sensor to aim, and touch screen to swing your putter. Surprisingly, the mini golf actually doesn’t look terrible graphics-wise like the rest of the game, but it has way too many issues. Since the GamePad has a tough time registering power, trying to get up a hill is an arduous task and the holes just aren’t interesting.

Baseball

The best thing I can say about baseball is that it at least tried to do something slightly different. This one has a pitching machine throwing to you, with you tasked with swiping the GamePad at the right time to get contact. If you do manage to hit the ball, which is tough because the computer constantly throws off the plate, the odds of you getting out are overly high because of the numerous placemats spread out in front of you.

The Wii Remote Is Useless

Both ESPN Sports Connection and Nintendo Land use the Wii Remote in someway to enhance the gameplay or as an alternate controller. Game Party Champions doesn’t care about that, making the Wii Remote completely useless in every single game. I have no idea why it wasn’t utilized for something like mini golf when it practically screams for it.

There’s No Multiplayer

Even after all of these negatives, it could have been a really fun game to play with friends, right? Well, they don’t even give you that option. The only way you can play with someone else is by going around the most boring game board, with you passing the GamePad after each turn. Literally the only way someone else can do something at the same time as you is when they grab a Wii Remote and create a ball of light on the screen to distract you. Seriously.

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Final Word

Out of the 3 minigame collections you can get for the Wii U, Game Party Champions is by far the worst. Only one person can play at a time, the games are as boring as they come, and the Wii Remote isn’t used, even when it’s obvious it should have. Avoid this one at all costs.

Game Party Champions was reviewed with a copy rented through GameAccess.ca.